Well it’s the beginning of a new year and I’m starting us off with a picture of a fire extinguisher.  There’s really two reasons for this.  One, is that my husband and I spent practically all of the New Year’s Holiday putting out fires.  Not fun.  (Warning–whining ahead.  You may want to skip down to the bottom of the post.)  First, my Mac blew up.  This is the second Mac that blew up on me this year.  Now I love Macs, and both of these were quite long in the tooth, but what a PAIN.  I spent 3 days just getting back to some semblance of being able to work.  And we spent a good deal of New Year’s Day cleaning all the drains in the house with a plumbers snake.  (Don’t even ask…)  There were various and sundry other dramas as well.  In fact, at one point it became really comic.  My husband and I had to giggle.  Perhaps this was some sort of post traumatic stress disorder, but I tend to think it had more to do with gratitude.  After all, we were still healthy.  And we were strong enough to work together to solve the problems.  There’s something deeply reassuring about having a husband who knows how to fix a computer and snake a drain.  And there’s something deeply satisfying about learning how to do these things for myself.  Not that I wouldn’t love to have a staff to take care of these pesky troubles.  Not that I’m going to start picking up these activities for a Saturday night, but I like to know that if I have to do stuff, I know how.

When sharing my plight with my awesome friend Barbara, she offered this tasty tidbit of insight.  “Well we all know that a great performance is usually preceded by a really crummy dress rehearsal.  Naturally this means you will have an awesome year in 2011.”  And you know what, I think she’s right.  I don’t need a fire extinguisher to put out all the fires.  I need it because 2011 is going to be too darn hot!  So circle up my little chickadees.  I want to reassure you that 2011 will be less than perfect.  We will need a fire extinguisher nearby to put out fires along the way.  Stuff happens.  But we will take it in stride.  We will giggle at the absurdity of our tribulations.  And we will win.  And naturally, we’ll also need a fire extinguisher nearby just to protect those near and dear from our overwhelming hotness!  Happy New Year.

Love,
The Fat Chick